


Strawberry Boba

by ToxicPineapple



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: All pairings are minor except for the Sonanami, Chiaki is suffering, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Humour, I like ruining prompts, Introspection, Just like the other one lol, Non-Despair AU, Non-Hope's Peak AU, Not too heavy on the humour with this one, Soulmate AU, Soulmate's Name Is Written On Your Arm, bubble tea, but with a twist, though that was accidental
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21776623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: It’s kind of a sweet notion, in a way. To know someone all your life by a set of letters and then when you finally get to meet them, you know that they’re the right person, and they’ve been thinking of you too. If the name on Chiaki’s arm was written in kanji, she wonders if it would have yomikata written too, so she could actually know how to pronounce it. There are some kanji that are totally impossible to misread, but others are used really weirdly.That’s not been something Chiaki’s had to worry about, though, because the name on her arm isn’t written in Japanese. Unfortunately, she also has no idea what language the name is actually written in.---It really sucks when your soulmate is just within your reach, and you have no way of finding out what language their name is even written in.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Koizumi Mahiru/Pekoyama Peko, Komaeda Nagito & Nanami Chiaki, Nanami Chiaki/Sonia Nevermind
Comments: 21
Kudos: 205
Collections: FWC Soulmate Collection





	Strawberry Boba

**Author's Note:**

> kill me. i accidentally put this in the v3 section. i wanna die.

Soulmates are a pretty common thing. Realistically they shouldn’t be; like, even with someone’s name written on your arm, what are the odds you’re going to find them in a sea of seven and a half  _ billion  _ people? Not only is it unlikely, it’s improbable. What if you have a name on your arm like John Smith? How many John Smiths do you have to go through before you can find the “one and only”? In that case, Chiaki supposes you’d better hope you have an extremely rare name. Or if you’re Japanese, (which Chiaki is), extremely weird kanjis.

But it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t at least have some idea of who their soulmate is. There are a lot of tells, like what language the name is written in, what gender the name is usually assigned to, stuff like that. Probably the biggest reason why so many people in the world have managed to find their soulmates is because they care so much about it. This idea, this notion, that there’s someone in the world who’s your perfect fit. Whose every trait aligns perfectly with every one of your own. It’s extremely appealing. Chiaki would be lying if she tried to act like that isn’t the case, even if she’s sometimes a bit confused with how obsessed people can get with it.

Apparently, there’s also like, a gut feeling you get, when you meet them. Like, you know for a  _ fact  _ that they’re they one and only. She’s never experienced it herself, but according to the people in her life who have met their soulmates before, there’s just some kind of pull, like on an instinctual level. This subconscious feeling you have that they’re the right person for them. And when the names match up- well, there’s really no way to deny it, at that point.

It’s kind of a sweet notion, in a way. To know someone all your life by a set of letters and then when you finally get to meet them, you know that they’re the right person, and they’ve been thinking of you too. If the name on Chiaki’s arm was written in kanji, she wonders if it would have yomikata* written too, so she could actually know how to pronounce it. There are some kanji that are totally impossible to misread, but others are used really weirdly.

That’s not been something Chiaki’s had to worry about, though, because the name on her arm isn’t written in Japanese. Unfortunately, she also has  _ no idea  _ what language the name is actually written in.

She’s been taking English for as many years as she’s been alive, and while she’s no expert at the language, she’s pretty good at it, in her opinion. She knows it well enough to play video games that don’t have any Japanese translations. (Which is Chiaki’s primary concern.) The name  _ isn’t  _ written in English, though, unlike what she initially thought, when she saw the strange characters. Truth be told, even though she’s seventeen now, she still has no clue what name could be written there. She really hopes it’s a girl’s name, because, well, it would be pretty inconvenient for her if her soulmate was a guy. (Considering that she’s, like, a lesbian, and all.) But other than that there are absolutely no indicators as to what it could say.

It used to bother her a lot more than it does now. Being seventeen and knowing absolutely no characteristics of your soulmate is both pretty rare and pretty sad, but it’s never been her primary concern. She has other things to fill her life with. Good friends and family, school, video games. It’s frustrating that she can’t read it, but it’s also extremely easy to distract herself. Besides, having no way of knowing what language is on her arm gives her lots of time and energy to spend helping her friends with their soulmate problems. And they have plenty of  _ those  _ to go around.

Chiaki stirs her tea, poking her tongue out from between her lips. She hates that all the tapioca pearls end up sinking to the bottom of her tea. She doesn’t want to put the straw in only halfway and get a mouthful of tea, but on the same coin she doesn’t want to drink all the boba all at once because it’s all pooled at the bottom. There are probably more important things that she could be focusing on right now, but this is a major pet peeve of hers. She cares a whole lot about how her bubble tea is consumed! The tapioca should be dispersed evenly throughout the drink. Anything else is a disgrace.

Across from her, Nagito looks between the two bubble teas he got, a confused frown on his face. He’s probably trying to decide which one to drink first, but it’s still pretty funny to watch. After Chiaki gives up on moving around the tapioca pearls, she sips the tea and laces her fingers together, leaning forward to look at him closer.

“You could try drinking the one they gave you for free.” She remarks, and his green-grey eyes slide up to meet hers, a sheepish smile already clicking into place. They’ve been best friends since grade school but he’s still way too easily embarrassed when she gives him advice, it’s pretty stupid. “Since you like the other one more, right?”   
  


“I mean,” Nagito frowns again, drumming his fingers on the table. “I like taro and lychee about evenly, I just wanted lychee this time.” He rubs the back of his neck and then makes a face. Probably because his hands are wet with condensation. The tea is cold enough to do that. (The tapioca is warm, though. It’s really pleasant.) Then again, Nagito’s hands are always super sweaty, so maybe he’s just making that face because of the cold. Actually, that makes more sense. He probably doesn’t even notice when his hands are wet. Gross.

“Hmm.” Chiaki slowly tilts her head to the side. “I’m trying to decide if you’re an immediate satisfaction kinda guy or the kind to bide your time.” She giggles suddenly, and Nagito looks at her for a moment before she realises that she should probably explain what she’s laughing at. “Or you could alternate between the two. Get a good mix of the one you’re in the mood for and the one you’re not in the mood for to keep you going.”

“That’s pretty gross, Nanami.” He points out, but he’s wearing a wry smile. “It’s weird that I even have two to begin with.” Nagito pouts, rubbing his wrist, and Chiaki smiles. That’s where his soulmate’s name is written.

“Business as usual for you,” she chides, and takes another sip of her tea. Nagito is lucky. She doesn’t mean that in a jealous way, it’s just true. And a little unnerving, at times. He could probably part the sea if he wanted, for reasons entirely unrelated to being some kind of prophet. The fact that whoever ordered the taro bubble tea and then completely took off, prompting the worker to offer it to Nagito, wasn’t even surprising to her at this point. (Over a decade of friendship will do that to a person.) He’s even lucky in the soulmate department, kinda. The name on his arm is  _ Hajime Hinata,  _ a Japanese name, and apparently they’ve already met- though Nagito hasn’t given Chiaki a lot of information about the guy other than something about orange juice.

“It makes me feel awkward,” Nagito complains with a sigh. “Who comes to a cafe and orders two boba?”

“People who are really thirsty, probably.”

“Ahaha, you’re right,” he concedes, but he still looks awkward, so Chiaki reaches across the table and grabs the taro drink to take a long sip of it. She’s actually not a big fan of taro (it’s hard to describe, it’s like too earthy for her taste? She’s a bad Asian, she knows**) but the eyebrow raise from Nagito is funny, so it’s worth the slightly unpleasant flavour. “Nanami?”

“I think you can call me Chiaki,” she hums, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, but smiles because she knows he’s not going to follow through with it. Nagito is weirdly formal with her? Maybe it’s just the nature of their relationship. She calls him  _ Nagito,  _ though, his given name (and no honourific!) so it’s weird that he keeps calling her Nanami. It’s just a quirk, she supposes. “But now you don’t look weird. I have strawberry, you have lychee, and we’re sharing taro. It’s like… we’re making two pinks into a purple. No, that’s kind of a weird analogy and it doesn’t even make sense colour wise…” she pouts. “Who do we know that knows a lot about that stuff?”

“Yonaga might be a good source of information,” Nagito muses, and Chiaki suppresses a laugh, thinking that it’s sweet how quickly he moves topics based on what she’s talking about. “Since she does a lot of painting… but you don’t even like taro?” He tilts his head to the side, and Chiaki nods thoughtlessly, taking another drink of her own tea.

“It be like that sometimes.” She mumbles. “Probably.”

Nagito’s lip curls up, but he stops himself before he makes whatever comment that popped into his head. That’s a shame, Chiaki really wishes he’d make fun of her more, he’s so smart which means he’s well-suited to the task. He’s also just, extremely nice to her, so that’s probably never gonna happen. “You wanted to catch up today, right?” He asks after a moment, and Chiaki buffers briefly before nodding.

“Yeah. It’s weird not going to the same school.” In the condensation of her cup, Chiaki draws a mini triforce symbol, and then starts doodling Navi. “I’m not used to not seeing you every day, but you said the new school is better, right?”

“It’s not much different than the one we went to last year,” Nagito admits. “But it’s a good school. It’s nice going somewhere where people don’t all remember me from primary.” He chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s how I met Hinata, so I can’t be too mad about it.” Oh worm? Is this tea? Chiaki can’t help being a little bit more attentive, but she’s not very expressive at the best of times, so there probably wasn’t much more than a slight shift in her expression. Nagito’s gotten pretty good at picking up on that stuff, though, so she’s not surprised when he smiles at her. “You know, you could just ask, if you want me to tell you about him.”

“Are you two together?” Chiaki responds, sipping her own ice tea. She ends up with a mouthful of boba, and nobody is surprised. She doesn’t bother waiting to swallow before she talks again. “It’s weird that you call even your soulmate by his surname. I’d call him Hajime for sure.”

“I think that’d be a bit rude, considering that we don’t know each other very well,” Nagito sounds wistful, smiling serenely. The expression is generally deceiving, but thankfully, Chiaki has a pretty good idea of how to read  _ him,  _ too. It comes with being best friends for so long. She chews her boba. “Plus, I don’t get the impression that Hinata likes me all that much.”

Chiaki swallows. “Hmmm. Does he have eyes? You’re pretty attractive.” She hesitates. “Probably.” Objectively, Nagito is a pretty good looking guy. She’s not into him, and even if she wasn’t a lesbian, she probably wouldn’t be, because she still vividly remembers the days when he used to pick his nose, but she’s gotta admit that he’s like, handsome, and all that. It’s kinda weird thinking about her friend like that, though. Uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” Nagito grins, and Chiaki rolls her eyes. “But that’s not really what I meant.” He sighs, and stirs his tea with his straw. “It’s complicated.”

“I’ve got time.” She opts to say that, rather than say that she’s been waiting on this tea since Nagito mentioned meeting his soulmate, and that she’s starved of this kind of thing in her own life so honestly she’s happy to be hearing about it in his.

Not that Chiaki’s ever been good at any of that… romantic stuff. She doesn’t read often, but on the rare occasion that she does, and she gets to the romantic part of a book, she’s terribly flustered the whole time through. She has no composure. Dating simulators in video games leave her totally blank, too. She’d just have no idea what to say, or what might be tactful to do in any situation. Sure, holding hands and cuddling sound nice, but beyond that- things like communication, and physical gestures of affection beyond that… are honestly intimidating. Not scary, necessarily, or unappealing (because  _ wow  _ would Chiaki like to be kissed by a… g… girl…) but definitely intimidating.

Only, though, because she’d have absolutely no idea what to do. Or how to do it. Any of it. A large part of her is worried that when she meets her soulmate, she’ll embarrass herself with her total lack of expertise in that area. (Then again. The whole point of a soulmate is that they’re your one and only, so maybe they’ll both be completely unequipped to handle what being a soulmate might entail. But if that’s the case, it’ll be either reassuring, or disastrous.) In general she’s most worried about identifying them, though. Who’s to say that they’ll know Japanese? Maybe  _ they  _ don’t know what the name on their arm says either.

She’s not really in the position to be giving romantic advice, essentially, but hearing Nagito talk about his problems thus far with his soulmate, Chiaki thinks that the answer is fairly obvious. “It sounds like he’s doing that thing that girls do in the movies, where people don’t have soulmates and stuff.” She dips her thumb in a puddle of water that’s been forming on the table from the drips of condensation from her bubble tea. “What’s it called, playing hard to get.”

“You mean he’s a tsundere?”

“Don’t be a weeb, Nagito.”

“We’re… literally Japanese.”

Chiaki concedes. “But yeah, that. Maybe you’re just really cute and he’s too embarrassed to be honest about it. Or maybe being hostile is his way of showing you his affection. If it bugs you you should just talk to him about it. Communication, y’know?” They’re all just words that she’s seen in visual novels; in truth, if Chiaki came across a situation like this on her own, with her own soulmate or even with her own friends, she’d probably have no idea how to handle it.

“Ahaha, y’know, there’s probably some truth in that,” Nagito smiles, which tells Chiaki that she’s completely right. She’s glad for that, too, because she really was just repeating platitudes. “Why don’t we talk about something else? You haven’t told me how you’ve been, recently.”

It’s kind of lonely not going to school with Nagito anymore. She has other friends, of course, but it’s hard to beat your  _ best  _ friend. There’s no soul bond between them (because as far as Chiaki knows, that doesn’t happen so much with friends?) but they still mesh pretty well. Nagito can be really annoying sometimes, because he’ll go off on these self deprecating spirals, or make a lot of assumptions about the people around him that are at times impossible to break, but he’s a good guy. Definitely a level five friend. Chiaki doesn’t know if there are any levels higher than five, but she figures that it’s a good number of Nagito considering how long they’ve known each other.

(She’ll probably have to work out the finer details of the scale at some point, though, because she might meet someone who she ends up closer to than Nagito, and then she’s gonna have to figure out how to quantify that. It’s not necessarily something that she’s looking forward to.)

Something that she can appreciate about Nagito is that he’s pretty consistent with her. He’s got good follow-through. By the time they’ve both finished their bubble teas (as well as the taro one in the middle of the table), they figure it’s a good time to head home. She asks him to keep her posted on the Hajime Hinata situation, and he says that he will.

He’s the kind of person who, when he makes promises like that, she knows that she can rely on him, which is really nice. Though she supposes he could have better timing. Then again, maybe the fault is Chiaki’s for having trigger reflexes whenever her phone vibrates. (For all she knows, it’s one of her games letting her know about a special event. If that’s the case then she has to be ready at all times. It’s probably kind of bad that that’s her priority, rather than, perhaps, one of her friends being in trouble, but she figures that if they’re in trouble, then they’d call, not text.)

Case in point: Nagito’s text comes in while she’s at the mall. Chiaki isn’t a big mall person? She has no stamina for shopping nine times out of ten. Video game shopping is fun though, and sometimes shops have little demos that you can play, and that’s always neat. Usually she’ll just buy the game if she likes it a lot, but it’s still fun to beat the demo. It’s a cool party trick at the very least. Chiaki’s always been pretty great at video games.

When her phone vibrates, she stops walking to pull it out without saying anything to Peko or Mahiru, two of her friends from school and also the girls she usually goes shopping with. (Mahiru more than Peko, though; Peko probably tags along most times because Mahiru is her soulmate/girlfriend and like, romantic obligations. Not that Chiaki knows what that’s like? But she figures that that’s what’s going on.) They notice that she’s stopped and turn around after a moment. Peko’s got a blank look on her face that is typical of her, but Mahiru’s wearing a knowing smile, because this kind of thing is pretty normal for Chiaki.

Chiaki unlocks her phone. Nagito texted her a picture; she doesn’t recognise the subject of the photo, but she can only assume that it’s Hajime Hinata, or else there’d be no reason for the candid shot. He’s facing away from the camera, but his head is turned very slightly, and there’s a tiny smile on his face. From what Chiaki can see, his eyes are green, and his hair is dark brown. She nods sagely. He and Nagito are an aesthetic. And he’s smiling, which probably means that they’re getting along just fine- which is contrary to what Nagito told her a couple days ag-

Someone (or something? But she’s pretty sure it’s a someone because whatever it is is warm) collides into Chiaki’s shoulder, and knocks not only her phone out of her hands, but her feet out from under her. With an undignified sound, she watches the ground get closer to her, and then blinks in confusion when it suddenly stops, roughly a foot away from her face.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry,” it’s a woman’s voice, Chiaki thinks, and vaguely accented, but her Japanese sounds pretty okay. When she turns her head and catches a glimpse of pale blonde hair (as well as a whiff of honeysuckle shampoo), it starts making sense to her why the girl has an accent. “I wasn’t looking where I was going, are you alright?”

“Sonia,” intones her companion, who Chiaki didn’t notice, honestly. He’s tall- at least, taller than Chiaki- and he seems to have heterochromia… though actually he might just be wearing contact lenses. (In fact, she’s pretty sure he is, because one of his eyes is grey and the other is red and that’s way too edgy to be real.) As strange as his appearance is, though, she’s more distracted by girl who bumped into her. “Her electronic box of communication…”

Huh? Chiaki follows his line of sight and notices that her phone is on the floor some ways away. As soon as her eyes land on it, the man kneels and lifts it delicately, wiping it off with the long, purple scarf he’s wearing. It’s at that moment that it occurs to Chiaki that she’s still being held by the other girl, and when she’s pulled to her feet, she takes a step back and chews her thumbnail, blinking at the girl before her.

Like her friend, this girl is fairly tall too, though she’s not as tall as the boy. Her hair is long, tied out of her face with a green ribbon, and her eyes are a similar shade of green-grey. She’s remarkably pretty. Chiaki’s heart is getting that fluttery feeling she gets whenever she makes eye contact with an unfortunately attractive girl her age. She tries to calm it down, though, because she can’t imagine that going all ditzy-highschooler on this girl will help the interaction any. It’s awkward enough as it is.

“I’m fine,” Chiaki says quietly, before the blonde girl can begin to fret about her phone. “I shouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the walkway on my phone, so it’s my fault, probably.” She blinks and tilts her head to the side, watching relief cross over the girl’s features. She’s definitely not Japanese, probably from somewhere in Europe, but she seems fairly comfortable. And her friend, although his manner of speech is strange, is definitely a native speaker.

“I’m relieved that you aren’t mad!” The girl smiles. “But it’s still my fault.” She clears her throat, rubbing the back of her neck. “Could I make it up to you?” The way she asks it is curious, like she has some sort of other reason for asking, but Chiaki holds her tongue. “Gundham and I- that’s my friend, pardon me, my name is Sonia-- though I guess I should say Nevermind? That’s my surname--- are planning on checking out the new cafe that was just built, I’d be happy to treat you if you’ve got a moment.”

For a pretty girl, Chiaki has a lot of moments, actually. But she also has friends, who she’s probably obligated to be loyal to. “Hm. Well, I’m out with a couple friends…” speaking of Peko and Mahiru, where… Chiaki finds them after a moment, standing off to the side by one of the shops and talking about something that she can’t hear. When she meets Mahiru’s eyes, the redhead beams and waves, but quickly goes back to talking to Peko. Chiaki gets the message. “Actually, I think it’ll be okay.” She rolls her shoulders.

“Excellent!” Gundham, Sonia’s friend, barks the word in a low, booming voice. Chiaki barely blinks at him. He’s like an overdramatic tabletop RPG enthusiast, or something. She doesn’t mind it. “It is vital that we find out if the elixir at this new establishment is worth the time of Gundham Tanaka!” So his surname is Tanaka. It’s oddly… normal, for someone named something like Gundham.

“I didn’t catch your name, by the way,” Sonia remarks thoughtfully, and Chiaki realises that she’s a fool.

“Nanami.” She replies, and then adds, “Chiaki. My name is Chiaki Nanami.” She could’ve been smoother with that introduction. For a minute she thinks she was so weird about it that Sonia has been thoroughly unsettled, but it crosses her mind after a bit of thought that Sonia’s widening her eyes probably isn’t on account of her stuttering.

“Chiaki Nanami?” Echoes the girl. “Wait, uhm,” she shakes her head quickly. (Gundham’s raised his eyebrows; his eyes flicker to Chiaki’s arm, which is covered by her sleeve, a couple times but he doesn’t say anything.) “Do you-” Sonia fumbles at her sleeve, yanking it up with one hand. When Chiaki looks down at the girl’s arm, she sees some incredibly familiar kanjis written. With yomikata on top. “Do you spell your name with-”

  
“Yeah.” Chiaki interrupts, somewhat tightly. She pulls up her own sleeve, feeling like she’s in some kind of a stupor, and holds out her forearm to Sonia. “Is this your name, then? I’ve never been able to read it.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“That is certainly Sonia’s name,” Gundham replies in Sonia’s place, because the blonde girl is frozen, perhaps speechless. “Written in the language of the Novoselic, her country of origin.”

Honestly, Chiaki has never heard of it before, but based on Gundham’s factual tone, she-

She gets knocked off her feet a second time within five minutes. This time, though, Sonia isn’t able to catch her, because though Sonia is again the reason she goes down, the blonde’s arms are occupied being thrown around Chiaki’s shoulders.

“I’m so glad to meet you!” The girl bursts out, and Chiaki’s face warms at the close proximity. “I came to Japan to look for you, did you know that? I suppose you wouldn’t, as we’ve never met before, but I- well- I’ve been searching for so long and some days I felt like I would never find you- that is a bit too much information for a first meeting, I apologise- and I’ve knocked you over again too, oh-”

“It’s okay,” Chiaki dismisses quickly. “I don’t mind.” She doesn’t, though her face is definitely like a thousand degrees right now. Sonia beams at her, strands of blonde hair falling in front of her eyes, and Chiaki swallows down a bit of flustered anxiety. Her heart is beating hard, and Sonia can definitely feel it, but it’s not so embarrassing when Chiaki realises that the other girl’s heart is beating just as fast. At the same tempo, even, though it might be a bit presumptuous to say as much. She clears her throat a few times, trying to figure out something cool to say. “Uhm, well, how about that drink, then?”

Not quite, but close enough, because Sonia’s responding smile feels like a billion yen.

**Author's Note:**

> *yomikata: japanese has three alphabets; hiragana, katakana, and kanji. hiragana is how you write most words, katakana is how you write borrower words, and kanji is like, compound words. (and they're also chinese characters!) there isn't a single japanese person out there who knows every kanji in the world, especially not as far as names are concerned, so often on top of kanjis there will be small hiragana characters written, since everyone can read those. those are called "yomikata"
> 
> **it's okay, i'm asian, i'm allowed to make that joke.
> 
> NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY!!!!
> 
> this is late and i'm an asshole and also it's probably really terrible so i won't be rereading this for maaany months after this but i feel so guilty about forgetting to post that like jdhafjkd
> 
> LITERALLY VOID IF YOURE READING THIS I AM SOO SORRY tuesday was my duedate and i was episodic but i literally could've just sat my ass down in front of the laptop and posted this it wouldve taken four second adhfjsd
> 
> read Pocket Full Of Petals, it's the hanahaki fic Void posted for the challenge today and it's LITERALLY SO FUCKING GOOD hsdjfh it's the one before this one in the collection i cried a bit it's all great you know
> 
> ughsgh i could literally go on for hours about how terrible i feel about this but moving on
> 
> i love sonanami, i need to write them more often, and i think it's about time that i sit my ass down and admit that i've been converted into a komahina stan. between yesterday and today something just clicked for me and i had to be honest with myself and say that actually? komahina is a fucking good pairing and just like kaemaki, i've been sleeping on it
> 
> so expect some drabbles for it come january ;;
> 
> this author's note is literally SO LONG but just one last thing- the best lies updates TONIGHT i swear, it's been TWO FUCKING WEEKS and i'm just so irresponsible lol. i've written duedates and shit to get myself through the month so i promise you'll see many other updates for the best lies, as well as uhh all the other collab things i've been working on recently (:eyes:) and an update for search by the end of the month.
> 
> i love you guys. i am literally such an asshole lol


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